Dreamin’ ‘bout the West Coast

I've been dreamin' 'bout the West Coast (I've been dreamin')
Found some faces that I don't know (I've been dreamin' about it)
I'm seein' signs for California
Trade the shade for somethin' warmer

Business necessitated a trip to Northern California. We would be visiting areas surrounding San Francisco and it would be in two parts. Following one weekend where we would be on the peninsula proper a week or so later, we would be in the city. What to do? Two trips? Or were there other options to consider? In the days preceding our trip the words of this popular song keep playing in my mind. It was stark reminder that it has been two plus years since we last stepped foot in San Francisco, but then we had been dreaming of this trip for some time.

All that time ago it was to spend time with our dear friends, Dieter and Chris Monch. You can check out the post that followed that short BizCation with this hyperlink, Going coastal – I hear the call of the sea, yet again! Going coastal seemed an appropriate title for the post as on that occasion, we hugged the coastline as we ventured down the Pacific Coast Highway more simply known as California Highway One. However, this time there would be no car. Filling in the time would see us once again being entertained by the Princess.

On completion of our business activities, we headed to the wharves. Sighting of our Princess of the week, the Ruby Princess, also brought back memories. We couldn’t be dreaming, could we? Wasn’t this the controversial vessel that was hit hard by COVID and spent an extended period drifting off the southern coast of New South Wales, Australia, given authorities wouldn’t let it dock? It had only just gone through a refit when that happened and our first observation upon boarding was that indeed needed more time in a dry dock.

The motivation for selecting this particular Princess was not something we pursued with any sort of formality. It was more a case of taking what we could. The downside of facing a week in San Francisco is that it has become an unsafe city to spend any amount of time there even as it struggles to deal with an “un-housed” presence that is out of control. Setting aside politics on this occasion, it seemed to us to be a far less expensive proposition to spend time with a Princess than paying the current hotel rates for a stay that would see us spending most of the time in a hotel lobby bar. And of course we made a similar choice when we skipped New York city for another cruise to nowhere in particular rather than paying for time in a city that leaves us cold. You can read about that in the post The A, B, Zs of Fall!

The Princess may indeed have benefitted from a complete paint refresh but then again, everyone was happily housed and the lobby bar was sparsely populated. On the other hand, when we arrived in the port of Haines, a little south of Skagway, we counted three Princess cruise ships docked in the harbor. Not only did we see the Majestic Princess but the arrival of the Discovery Princess launched in 2022 with a displacement of 145,000 tones making it the biggest Princess of all time. By comparison, the Ruby Princess displaced less than 115,000 tons.

Margo and I have sailed on a lot of Princess cruise ships and the current crop offers an element of consistency that leads us to feel right at home. Once on board, we head to Vines in the Piazza. Not for a drink well, most of the time, but rather it affording just a single table with two chairs alongside a porthole that fills the immediate space, roof to table top, affording us a constantly changing vista as the ocean slides by. Simply and for the most part quiet, it is where we grab our morning cappuccinos and pick up on where we left off with books we were reading. 

I've been starin' up at the greyest skies
Tryin' to find myself some luck, but it's runnin' dry
It's like the weather makes the worst of my cloudy mind
I could really use a dose of some paradise

After passing under the GoldenGate Bridge that, unfortunately for photographers, was clothed in the usual summer fog and barely visible, we headed up the coast and past the lighthouse at Point Reyes. Cloudy, with rain misting down on us both! It was Mark Twain who stated that “the coldest winter I ever spent was summer in San Francisco” and the region didn’t fail to deliver. A dose of Paradise? Sure would be nice to experience but then again, we consider any Princess to be gift from heaven.

Together we have been sailing for the entirety of our married life. From the late 1990s until now we have sailed on a dozen vessels. As for myself, I first stepped on a P&O vessel, then the forerunner to Princess, as far back as 1973 when it was the Himalaya that was doing the cruise circuit out of Sydney. The Oronsay then followed the Himalaya as the cruising destination and with both ships built in the 1960s displacing less than 30,000 tons and, with cruising in its infancy, leaving a lot to be desired by today’s standards. But as an employee of the container shipping arm of P&O, I was able to cruise each year for AUD$50 so you will never hear me complaining. 

Paradise? For many years now we have elected not to partake in shore excursions. And this trip wasn’t any different. Unless you call our last minute cancellation of the only shore excursion we booked – a boat trip to an oyster farm where samples were to be provided. For us, a quick look from our balcony cabin was all we indulged in and with weather being unfavorable on most days, it was back down to the Piazza for another coffee and a pastry treat.

There were some occasions when the clouds lifted and the light became better when it was clearly an opportunity to take in the colors on display at some of the ports. Our first stop had been Ketchikan followed by Haines and then it was a full day in Juneau. Similar in many ways where a dependence on the presence of the cruise industry was evident everywhere you turned. Sailing into Ketchikan, we passed by a pod of Orcas and that was a local greeting we hadn’t expected, but then again, as the songwriter penned, under the greyest skies (we found ourselves) some luck.

After leaving Juneau we sailed up Endicott Arm. This is a fjord like body of water well to the east of the more popular Glacier Bay. And yet, as morning light shone down through the surrounding peaks of the coastal mountain range, we glimpsed Dawes Glacier. This is a tidewater glacier when frequent calving can be seen and while we didn’t witness such an occurrence firsthand, the evidence of carving was all around us as we sailed back through a myriad display of small icebergs. Abundant birdlife everywhere with the occasional sighting of much larger fish disturbing the stillness of the waters over which these birds patrolled, back and forth.   

Ain't nothin' that you want'll cost you more than time
If you're tryna find yourself, better get in line
I'm countin' up my money and spendin' to get it right
Got the future in my pocket, I'm spendin' it all tonight

The waters ran deep in these parts and as such were quite still. As we continued to sail back to the main channel of the Inside Passage I couldn’t help but stare at the patterns that our Princess’s wake created. They were symmetrical and would run as far back as the waters allowed being broken up solely by the currents that continued once our vessel had passed. It made me think about the need to be out on the sea and the restlessness I have always experienced following long periods ashore.

Put it down to my Sydney heritage or perhaps to the tales from my father and grandfather who both set sail on ships that today would have horrified us leaving us to wonder just how seaworthy they were. And yet, they carried my grandfather to Sydney from England and took my father on island hopping with Burns Philp tramp steamers. Then again, for them spending the money to sail was what helped them both to get it right. For Grandfather it carried him to his new home whereas for my father it probably influenced his decision to join the Air Force when hostilities erupted with WW2.

 Perhaps my favorite photo from this latest BizCation excursion; balconies fading all the way to the horizon! Could have been taken anywhere on this trip but in reality it was the last day when the clouds cleared and we were bathed in warm sunshine. Reflected as the wake was on each cabins window it was a reminder too that every passage across any ocean witnesses our passing but will never retain any memory or artifact of our time on the water. It abates and is gone; a decline that can only be thought of as being a reminder to us that our time on this earth is not long-lasting. But before I wax lyrical or become maudlin with what sea journeys trigger, it is now onto the next voyage, yet another opportunity to capitalize on a BizCation that has been in the works for almost a year.

Safe to say in parts small to large, we are all adventurous dreamers. And on that note and foreshadowing a lot more still to come, all I can say is cheers! A toast to all adventurers and to those who maybe dreamin' 'bout the West Coast, and beyond!